Feds Unable To Verify Payments To Health Insurers Without Back-End System
Delays in completing the data system for the health exchanges means the government has been making billions in payments to insurance companies without being able to confirm how much it owes each insurer, according to an inspector general's report.
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Payments To Health Insurers Still Lack Verification
The Obama administration has been making billions of dollars in payments to insurance companies under the health law without being able to confirm just how much it owes each insurer, according to an inspector general’s report to be released Tuesday. The federal government has paid subsidies for many enrollees’ premiums and deductibles directly to insurers since January 2014 ... But the back-end system for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to determine the exact amounts the government owes for each enrollee still hasn’t been completed. (Radnofsky, 6/16)
Meanwhile, proposed premiums in Indiana and Colorado get coverage -
Indianapolis Star:
Some Obamacare Premiums To Drop In Indiana
Four of the nine health insurers selling Obamacare plans in Indiana are expecting to cut their average rates next year, according to filings with the Indiana Department of Insurance. The largest seller of Indiana plans on the federal marketplace — health insurance giant Anthem of Indianapolis — is seeking a small rate increase, 3.8 percent. (Groppe, 6/15)
The Denver Post:
Colorado Health Plan Choices, Premiums Rise For 2016
State regulators on Monday unveiled data showing that Coloradans will have more choices of health insurance plans next year but also will, on average, pay more for premiums. Among the state's largest insurers, premium changes for individual plans ranged from an 8.2 percent increase for HMO Colorado Inc., a branch of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, to a 5.1 percent decrease for Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co., according to the data. ... The state has not yet approved the 2016 insurance rate change requests, and actual premium amounts were not disclosed. (Finley, 6/15)
